The invention is related to artificial nail structures for attachment to and lengthening of and for repairing, strengthening or sculpturing of natural nails. It is particularly concerned with a sculptured artificial nail that is inexpensive and that may be easily applied to the natural nail of a user.
There are various prior art artificial nail structures for attachment to and lengthening of natural nails. Examples are described in Matranga et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,007,748; Michaelson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,552,401; Jarby, U.S. Pat. No. 3,502,088; Sautter et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,478,756; Feigenbaum, U.S. Pat. No. 2,073,867 and an article, "Service Equals Profits With New Nail Care Techniques", Modern Beauty Shop, dated April 1976, pp. 75-78. While often useful, such prior art structures may have several disadvantages. For example, the prior art structures known to applicant which have been used commercially may, for the purpose of illustration, be classified into several different types. A first type, a solid artificial nail, commonly known as "nail shells", comprises a preformed, i.e., conforming as nearly as possible to the shape of the natural nail to which it will be attached, solid plastic material adhesively bonded with glue to the natural nail. Nail shells are disposed over substantially the entire natural nail. The disadvantages of using nail shells are that: they must be removed periodically, usually within 24 to 48 hours, since they tend to damage the natural nail in that they do not allow the natural nail to "breathe", i.e., they cause fungus infections; the natural nail grows underneath the artificial nail and thus may cause the artificial nail to pop off and/or to damage the natural nail; the nail shells are normally manufactured from plastics that are flammable; the user tends to lose normal touch sensation of the natural nail so that the nails feel dead at their outwardly extending ends; and the nail shells may be dislodged easily from the natural nail when the user does normal household chores.
Another type of artificial nail, normally sold in a kit, comprises a powdered acrylic polymer, a liquid acrylic monomer and a set of adhesive backed forms. The form serves as a base and is disposed under the natural nail so as to cover the sides and project beyond the naturally extending end thereof.The polymer and monomer are mixed and applied to the natural nail and the projecting portion of the form serving as the base. The form is removed after the polymer/monomer mixture dries and is of the desired thickness. This type of artificial nail is referred to as a "porcelain nail". The disadvantages of the porcelain nail are that: the porcelain nail covers substantially the entire natural nail since in practice the polymer/monomer mixture is difficult to apply in a precise manner and consequently must be tapered over the length of the natural nail so as to smooth out the formation of a ridge where the natural nail ends and the artificial nail begins; the natural nail grows underneath the artificial nail and may cause the artificial nail to pop off and/or to damage the natural nail; the artificial nail may pop off in cold water and in normal household and work usage; the artificial nail is flammable; the user may experience a loss of touch sensation or may have an allergic reaction due to the porcelain nail.
A variation on the porcelain nail technique provides for initially placing a piece of wax paper over substantially the entire natural nail. A monomer/polymer mixture is applied over the wax paper and after the mixture dries, the artificial nail formed is removed and adhesively bonded to the natural nail, in an overlapping manner, by means of cyanoacrylate glue. The disadvantages of this modified porcelain nail are that: the artificial nail is difficult to form; it is flammable; and a two-step process is required.
A further type of artificial nail, as disclosed in the Matranga et al. patent, consists of a preformed plastic form which is applied to the outwardly extending end of the natural nail, edge to edge or with a slight overlap, by means of cyanoacrylate glue. The disadvantages of this artificial nail are that: the application of the artificial nail requires a considerable amount of manual dexterity; the artificial nail is soluble in acetone, i.e., nail polish remover, and if a slight excess is applied to remove old nail polish, the artificial nail weakens and becomes soft or falls off; it is difficult to smooth out the joint formed between the natural nail and the artificial nail; and the artificial nail does not extend the natural curvature of the natural nail.
In view of this prior art, there is a need for an artificial nail structure which may be quickly applied by a user requiring little manual dexterity, which can be made extremely strong and will not be damaged by household or office work, which is inflammable, which does not require preformed shapes, which is permanent and need not even be removed periodically, since the entire natural nail or even a substantial portion thereof need not be covered so that it may be allowed to "breathe", which requires no mixing of chemicals and minimizes any allergic reaction by the user, which preserves touch sensation, and extends the natural curvature of the nail. Such structure should also be inexpensive to make. This invention is directed to providing a structure meeting such needs.
In accordance with the invention, a sculptured artificial nail is adhesively bonded to the natural nail by a bonding composition such as cyanoacrylate glue. The artificial nail includes a flexible plastic sheet, a granular material, adhesively bonded by a layer of the cyanoacrylate glue to the upper face of the plastic sheet to form a textured surface. Any granular material which can be bonded with the cyanocrylate glue, for example, ordinary table salt, sugar, glass beads, or methacrylate polymer including an appropriate catalyst may be used. If an artificial nail of additional thickness is desired, a textured layer formed of the granular material adhesively bonded to the textured surface by a layer of cyanoacrylate glue may be applied.
The invention is applied to making a sculptured artificial nail by bonding a portion of the lower face of the flexible plastic sheet to a portion of the natural nail with the cyanoacrylate glue, with the plastic sheet projecting beyond the outwardly extending end of the natural nail. The bonding composition is applied substantially only over a portion of the white-colored, outwardly extending end of the natural nail. A layer of the cyanoacrylate glue is applied to the upper face of the plastic sheet and the granular material is applied over the glue to adhesively bond the granular material to the upper face of the plastic member so as to form an artificial nail having a textured surface. If the artificial nail is to be of further thickness, a layer of the glue may be applied to the textured surface, after which the granular material is applied thereon so as to form a textured layer disposed over and in contact with the textured surface. Alternatively, the glue and the granular material may be initially pre-mixed together. A layer of this mixture may then be applied to the upper face of the plastic sheet in the same manner as hereinabove described.
In the alternate structure of the invention for making a sculptured artificial nail, a monomer/polymer composition is substituted for the granular material and the cyanoacrylate glue. The structure of the artificial nail is otherwise identical to that described above in the first structure.
In a further alternate embodiment of the invention, an artificial nail may be used to repair, strengthen or sculpture a natural nail. A layer of the cyanoacrylate glue is applied to a portion of the natural nail. The granular material is applied to the nail and is bonded thereto by the glue to form a textured surface so as to repair a damaged nail, to prevent it from breaking in the first instance or to form a textured surface on the natural nail. If the natural nail is to be of further thickness, a layer of glue may be applied to the textured surface after which the granular material is applied thereon so as to form a textured layer disposed over and in contact with the textured surface.